Kristin Vamvas Day
MPT, Ohio University
BS, Biological Sciences, Ohio University

Student Profile:
Kristin Vamvas Day is a physical therapist and received both her BS in Biology and Master of Physical Therapy degree from Ohio University, Athens. Before joining the University of Florida, she practiced for approximately four years in adult acute care and inpatient rehabilitation settings, primarily treating patients with neurological injuries. The NMPT program actively recruited and financially supported Kristin with institutional matching funds starting in year 1 of her Ph.D. program. Kristin is currently a fourth year RSD student (started 1/06) and is mentored by Dr. Andrea Behrman and Dr. Steven Kautz. Her emphasis is the study of balance during gait after spinal cord injury.

Research Project Description:
Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating health condition that greatly limits everyday functioning, including walking. Walking is a complex task necessitating the neural control of three requisite subtasks: stepping, balance, and adaptability. Following SCI, these subtasks are frequently impaired leading to a high incidence of falls in this population. While research has actively sought to understand recovery of stepping ability after SCI, little attention has been given to the recovery of balance, the next major component to successful ambulation. Post-SCI, an individual possesses a “new” nervous system, which seeks experiences to relearn movement patterns, including balance. While acquiring such experiences, the nervous system generates varying solutions to maintain balance specific to a person’s unique injury. Contributing factors to these many solutions may include selective muscular weakness or sensory loss, amount and location of muscle tone, and/or proprioceptive deficits. As a result of these neural and muscular factors, the nervous system may direct the body to biomechanically compensate for losses with particular movement patterns to avoid falling. Therefore, Kristin is in the process of using motion analysis-based measurement tools to investigate the different balance control strategies that individuals with SCI employ during gait. Specifically, she is examining non-linear measures of head and pelvic stability as well as foot placement relative to the body center of mass during level ground walking both with and without assistive devices to understand the step-by-step corrections of neuromuscular errors and inherent variability. Development of measurement techniques, which can detect the distinctive mechanisms of walking balance in persons with SCI, is essential for comparing the effectiveness of walking recovery interventions and ultimately establishing appropriate therapeutic techniques after SCI.

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